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How Kentucky's Millennial Ag Commissioner Hopes to Start Transparent Dialogue About Food

Nicole Erwin, WKMS

 

  Kentucky’s Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles is taking on the federal government, calling new Hemp regulations unfair to the industry. It’s a big fight for a young politician. This millennial is the youngest statewide elected constitutional officer in the US and Nicole Erwin has a profile on how a UK and Harvard alum has managed to create his own platform in politics at age 32.

 

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture inspects nearly 60,000 gas pumps a year. Gary Barlow, a regulation and inspection supervisor, is checking pumps at a station in Murray, Kentucky. He is doing this while his boss, half his age, observes.

While Barlow goes through the motions, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles makes sure everything runs smoothly.

“We like to tell people that the Department of Agriculture is more than just representing our farm community, we are also a consumer protection agency as well,” said Quarles.

As the largest regulatory body in the state, Quarles’ role often transcends the world of Ag. So do many of theissues he has aligned himself with, like hunger, education, student loan debt and water. All topics he explores, often in a single day.

To do that, Quarles is on the road a lot. Occasionally he will let his hair down and he and his assistant will ride to his favorite band, Led Zeppelin. He doesn’t actually let his hair down, it stays just as it is, salt and peppery and buzz cut. Quarles doesn’t look 32-years old. He says he earned his “wisdom halo” during his early years as a legislator.

“There are a lot of folks who believe that just because you have a good idea that it should get attention and one of the lessons I learned early on is that politics is about relationships,” said Quarles.

Credit Nicole Erwin, WKMS
Quarles prepares his speech for the 2016 Fancy Farm Picnic

With the presidential election campaigns in full swing, Quarles says there has been a void of food politics on the national stage. Concerned that Ag wouldn’t have a voice, he along with other commissioners across the U.S. offered their advice to one of the candidates, and Trump accepted, offering Quarles a seat with the GOP presidential Ag Advisory Council.

“I'm a millennial. I'm one of a first of a wave of what's going to be a transition from generation to generation,” said Quarles.

“Millennials expect transparency,” he adds and as a member of the council Quarles said he will be looking to start a conversation on a number of issues that remain unclear.  

He says one of them is federal government overreach, particularly of the EPA and Waters of the U.S. Regulations, or WOTUS. What Quarles calls says would have an adverse impact to farmers across the united states.  “Water management, water nutrient and access” are priorities.

Others include trade and immigration policy, and “intelligent conversations regarding GMO’s.”

He wouldn’t say Trump’s name directly when asked if he is a supporter. Instead, he would say “I'm supporting the nominee.”

Although raised by two democrats, Quarles is a Republican. Kentucky is one of 12 states in the US that still elects the Ag Commissioner, every state except West Virginia has voted red.

He ran for his first political position when he was just 25.

“I ran for office while I was still in college, I was finishing up law school and I would go to class during the day, go door to door at night and ask people for votes.” He said.

In 2010 he graduated law school and was elected to the Kentucky State House of Representatives that same year.  

Was this young politician as successful at creating bipartisan relationships as he says?
 

3rd District State Representative Gerald Watkins served with Quarles during both his terms and he did so on the other side of the aisle as a Democrat.

“It can be too partisan in Frankfort and sometimes that can interfere with relationships but it never did with Ryan,” said Watkins.  By avoiding the partisan heated rhetoric battles on the floor, Watkins says Quarles demonstrated “a very friendly personality.”  

In his first year as Ag Commissioner, Quarles made “hunger” a priority.

“Hunger is a huge issue in Kentucky, as it is across the United States and so having a conversation, dialogue approach towards helping address far too many people, 1 in 6 Kentuckians are considered food insecure, that is an approach that I think is effective,” said Quarles.

At a Hunger Initiative meeting in Mayfield, Quarles sat beside Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, a democrat. Another conversation involving non-profits, organizations of faith and politicians from the region to network in finding solutions.

Credit Nicole Erwin, WKMS
Mayfield Hunger Initiative

As the youngest elected leader of the Ag Community, where the average farming age is near retirement at 62, can this millennial be the voice of an aging industry? He says the electorate seems to think so, after all they voted him to do the job.

Nicole Erwin is a Murray native and started working at WKMS during her time at Murray State University as a Psychology undergraduate student. Nicole left her job as a PTL dispatcher to join the newsroom after she was hired by former News Director Bryan Bartlett. Since, Nicole has completed a Masters in Sustainable Development from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia where she lived for 2 1/2 years.
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